Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic control unit (ECU), an autonomous vehicle including the ECU, and a method of controlling lane change thereof, and more particularly, to an ECU, an autonomous vehicle including the ECU, and a control method of lane change thereof that are capable of performing an improved lane change.
Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, interest in autonomous driving technology of vehicles has increased. Autonomous driving technology refers to technology for automatic vehicle driving without driver intervention. In general, to change lanes during autonomous driving, movement (a relative position, relative speed, and on the like) of surrounding vehicles is recognized using a distance measurement sensor such as a radar and a LiDAR sensor, installed within the vehicle, and whether lanes are changed is determined based on the recognized information.
When driving a vehicle, a driver operates the vehicle based on a current traffic flow. The driver typically changes lanes when appropriate based on distance to surrounding vehicles or actively accelerates or decelerates the vehicle to attempt to change lanes when distance between the vehicles is less limiting. Similarly, an autonomous vehicle also requires a lane change while controlling acceleration and deceleration when necessary.
For example, when a driver needs to change a destination to enter a close interchange (IC)/junction (JC), a driver recognizes an accident vehicle or a section under construction in front of a driving vehicle via vehicle communication and on the like, a user may input a command for rapid lane change or a command for lane change in a congested area, or even when a driver does not change a destination during driving on a highway, a close IC/JC is present before an IC/JC on an original path or an IC/JC is nearby on a path since a vehicle does not change lanes to the right direction to yield to merging vehicles.
In addition, when a driver enters an IC/JC entrance and is unable to immediately enter a pocket lane, it is necessary to change lanes more rapidly. In particular, as a vehicle speed difference between a current lane and a change target lane increases, the number of opportunities to change from the current lane to the change target lane decreases and, thus, it is more difficult to change lanes rapidly. In these cases, there is a need for a method of rapidly and appropriately changing lanes by an autonomous vehicle adaptively to a situation in which lane change is required without obstructing traffic flow and an increase in accident risk.